2015

Despite the varying tempo of works by the beer refrigerator car, the rebuild is progressing towards the end. During the summer vacations we managed to paint the planks of the outer walls and prepare them for the final assembly. Yet, a couple of obstacles appeared and forced us to rethink the construction of the walls. What is more, September and October is a period of increased number of events in the Shed, so we had hardly any time to get back to renovation works by the exhibits.

After the last events of 170th anniversary of WVR, at last we could devote some more time to the refrigerator car. We conduct the works every second week under the supervision of people who took part in similar project several years ago, when we were rebuilding the 4th class passenger-luggage coach ‘Steinfurt’. During the last weeks of November we managed to complete the outer walls of the car, many times working after dusk due to the shorter daytime.

During the coming meetings, we are going to complete the inner walls, openings for ice, door frames and start assembling the double floor with thermal insulation.

We’re happy to report that editorial staff of “Stalowe Szlaki” quarterly (“Steel Routes”) took the media patronage of the rebuild of beer refrigerator car. The quarterly is one of the oldest and still present on the market hobby magazines devoted entirely to railways. Thank you!

We devote each free moment of our activity to the works by the beer refrigerator car from 1912. During the previous weeks we managed to cut the planks for all external walls (except the part where entrance is placed – this will be accomplished in further stages of works).

Currently we are milling the planks so they will fit the outer frame and form with it a single, even surface. As we have no milling machine, we substituted it with prepared drill press. Surprisingly, this arrangement run without fault

We are still collecting any documentation regarding beer refrigerator cars. As for now, we still did not find the blueprints of our particular car. Therefore, to find best solutions, we collect so called blatts – blueprints of cars of similar construction, especially of Austrian origin. This time, with help come the branch of Rzeszów’s National Archive in Sanok, where in the complex of the former L. Zieleniewski railway works one can find vast documents regarding many railway vehicles.

The rebuild of the beer refrigerator car consists not only from the physical and conceptual work but also from the popularization of the project itself and broadening the knowledge about beer transport on rails. Therefore our natural ally in this venture are organizations of the gold-tinted drink lovers. In January the circle of rebuild supporters was joined by the nationwide organization, registered in the nearby Łódź: the Beer Guild – the Association of Beer Culture Promotion. We would like to thank our new partner for support in works by the car which is a common heritage of railway and beer industry.

Opposing the winter weather, the resumed the works by the beer refrigerator car. Despite the short days we’ve managed to cut and fit the paneling of side walls, leaving some place for a pair of double doors in the middle. Lately we continued the works by the front walls. It appeared to be a rather complicated task – to gain access we had to partially disassemble the side walls, temporarily held in place with clamps. After several hours of cutting and fitting, we managed to complete the first front wall. It’s worth noting that due to the car’s function, each wall consist of two layers between which a layer of insulation is sandwiched. Therefore, when completed, our car will be able to handle its original purpose.

In the coming weeks we are going to complete second front wall and give the paneling some initial polish. Next step will be filling the space between the walls, roof and floor with insulation.

From the beginning we try to interest as many parties as possible in the rebuild of the beer refrigerator car. Our work was followed from the early stages by the members of Skierniewice Beer Guild and internet portal skierniewice24.pl. No wonder that both parties responded positively without hesitation to our call for honorary patronage of the project.

We do not forget about our beer refrigerator car and whenever possible, we continue its rebuild. Reaching the original documentation become quite a challenge, therefore in July a couple of PARE members went to Czech Republic to take photos of refrigerator cars from railway museum in Lužná u Rakovníka and Krupá – Kolešovice railway. Photographs will come handy when designing anew the historically correct parts of our car.

Lately, we have repainted white the framework and continued impregnating the wooden parts. Thanks to the photographs from Czech museums, we determined the correct layout of outer planking and completed initial part of side walls of the car.

We are still looking for a sponsor of further works on the refrigerator car.